Skimmer pump wattage according to your Apex?

[Brew12]

My guess is that it’s just displaying Volt-Amps. That’s technically easer to do since it doesn’t involve measuring the phase. It would also explain the wide range of accuracies we’ve seen in postings here.

That is possible although the math doesn't work out great for that, either. 115V at 0.7 amps would be 80VA on Rick's skimmer but it is showing 50W.
The math works to a Power Factor of around 0.6 so I'm wondering if the Apex has 0.6 as a minimum limit for calculating power.

 

[A_CoupleClowns]

I have a fluval sp4 return pump I plugged into my apex reading 175w but it’s rated at 88w?

Did some thinking and if you divide 175w in half it’s 87.5w, which is almost exactly on point with fluvals sp4 ratings. Something is skewed on the apex reading with certain equipment, possibly the power factor calculations. No big deal. Seems like the kill-o-wat meters are spot on.

My reef octo 250 regal skimmer is pulling 55w on full power, reef octo rates the pump at 35-75w.

 

[robbyg]

I have a fluval sp4 return pump I plugged into my apex reading 175w but it’s rated at 88w?

Did some thinking and if you divide 175w in half it’s 87.5w, which is almost exactly on point with fluvals sp4 ratings. Something is skewed on the apex reading with certain equipment, possibly the power factor calculations. No big deal. Seems like the kill-o-wat meters are spot on.

My reef octo 250 regal skimmer is pulling 55w on full power, reef octo rates the pump at 35-75w.

I think the fact is that it just does not read power levels accurately . On the bright side at least it can read power well enough to trigger alarms if needed.
On my system the only thing I really worry about is the pump stopping or slowing down and I use the flow meter for alerts on that.

 

[S2G]

Anyone tested a psk1200 yet?

 

[S2G]

My Reef Octopus Classic 200 INT claims 35 watt
My apex says 27 watt
My killawatt meter says 28 watt

YOUR WELCOME!

Sweet. That's my next skimmer. I'm done with this BM

 

[A_CoupleClowns]

I have a fluval sp4 return pump I plugged into my apex reading 175w but it’s rated at 88w?

Did some thinking and if you divide 175w in half it’s 87.5w, which is almost exactly on point with fluvals sp4 ratings. My reef octo 250 regal skimmer is pulling 55w and it’s rated at

I think the fact is that it just does not read power levels accurately . On the bright side at least it can read power well enough to trigger alarms if needed.
On my system the only thing I really worry about is the pump stopping or slowing down and I use the flow meter for alerts on that.

It reads my heater right on the money 300w. I guess some stuff it reads accurately and some stuff it doesn’t.

 

[LittleMaui]

I have the same skimmer. Apex says 64 watts.

 

[robbyg]

I have a fluval sp4 return pump I plugged into my apex reading 175w but it’s rated at 88w?

Did some thinking and if you divide 175w in half it’s 87.5w, which is almost exactly on point with fluvals sp4 ratings. My reef octo 250 regal skimmer is pulling 55w and it’s rated at



It reads my heater right on the money 300w. I guess some stuff it reads accurately and some stuff it doesn’t.

I am not sure if I am following your logic. Your saying that it's reading twice the power on one item, but that's accurate if you divide it by two and on the other item the reading is fine if you do not divide it by two??

PF cannot account for those huge discrepancies. I am not knocking the Apex PB but you have to be realistic. These things are built to a price. A circuit design to accurately read power on eight separate outlets is a lot to ask for at this price point.

 

[A_CoupleClowns]

Let’s flip this around and ask do you think it’s a coincidence that is registers my return pump at exactly double the wattage it’s rated at?

In that instance it’s reading something accurately and then screwing up the calculation in my opinion (bad algorithm?). And like I said with other things (my heater) the wattage is right on, so the calculation is correct with some equipment.

So I’m basically trying to say I don’t think it seems to be just giving some random number, if that makes sense LOL!

 

[Brew12]

I think it is a coincidence, but that it is power factor related. If the Apex ignores power factor then the only way to get exactly double is if the current flow due to reactive power exactly matches the current flow for real power.
If the Apex only uses power factor incorrectly it would take an even larger coincidence to get exactly twice the power as a reading.

I would say that unless you run your return pump lightly loaded that it may not be working right. I'd check your controller and make sure it doesn't run too hot.

 

[Sleepydoc]

Just out of curiosity, is the truly an issue for anyone? There are two main uses for the power monitoring function of the EB832 that I can think of - monitoring for a problem like a burned out heating element and calculating the cost of electricity to run our equipment (do any of us really want to do that? ).

I suspect few people actually consistently use it for cost calculations and for the first use, accuracy doesn't matter as much as consistency which seems to be fine.

 

[TheOne]

Just out of curiosity, is the truly an issue for anyone? There are two main uses for the power monitoring function of the EB832 that I can think of - monitoring for a problem like a burned out heating element and calculating the cost of electricity to run our equipment (do any of us really want to do that? ).

I suspect few people actually consistently use it for cost calculations and for the first use, accuracy doesn't matter as much as consistency which seems to be fine.

I mostly use it for a baseline. If I know what watts each piece of equipment is drawing and it drastically changes then I know something is going on. It could be as simple as a return pump becoming partially clogged or a power brick starting to go bad. Although double checking with my killawatt meter I haven't noticed any differences from what my EB832 is showing. I would be on the phone with neptune trying to resolve the issue if that was the case.

 

[A_CoupleClowns]

I think it is a coincidence, but that it is power factor related. If the Apex ignores power factor then the only way to get exactly double is if the current flow due to reactive power exactly matches the current flow for real power.
If the Apex only uses power factor incorrectly it would take an even larger coincidence to get exactly twice the power as a reading.

I would say that unless you run your return pump lightly loaded that it may not be working right. I'd check your controller and make sure it doesn't run too hot.

I don’t know if it is power factor even, I guess who really knows what it is. Terrance at apex knows I suppose, lol. I mentioned power factor but I was just trying to state that “could” be it.

My return pump has been running smooth on my 470g since 2015. Seems to be working fine from what I can tell. Very little head height and 1.5” until I get up to the split of 1” returns. I have been thinking if I see the wattage change at all from its double amount then it’s time to check it out

Sleepydoc is right on the money. And who needs to know how much $ the tank sucks down. That’s the last thing I need to think about LOL!!!

TheOne your right on too. I might grab one of those kill-o-watt meters and report back on if my theory is correct about my return pump using only 88w through an accurate metering device. Be nice to have around anyway.

 

[justingraham]

I believe it’s an equation as before an apex update my numbers would change when my night light came on and i couldn’t figure why my pump would draw more current at night

Then i found out it was just the numbers to make ohms law work on the energy bar

 

[kyley]

Just out of curiosity, is the truly an issue for anyone? ... and calculating the cost of electricity to run our equipment (do any of us really want to do that? ).

Sleepydoc is right on the money. And who needs to know how much $ the tank sucks down. That’s the last thing I need to think about LOL!!!

To answer both of you, YES, I definitely want to know if something is using a lot more electricity than it's supposed to. It makes a big difference in the cost of running my aquarium, which I try to do frugally. That's why I started this thread. I bought the BM Curve 7 largely because I thought it would be efficient. While it seems there's a debate on whether the reporting is accurate or not, I bought the Red Sea skimmer (using the Sicce pump - same one in the Curve 7 Elite model) and cut my electricity well under half. Again, half the amount according to what the Apex was reporting. I don't remember the exact calculation I came up with, but by switching to the Sicce skimmer pump, it should save me $70 or so per year in electricity. I'd prefer to save that $ if I can!
--Kyle